Students have traditionally been at the forefront of change in the Southeast Asian country of Burma. On May 27, the three prominent former student leaders shown in this picture, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and Htay Kywe led a peaceful 500-person march toward Burma's famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon to participate in prayer services. There they planned to call for the release of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the commencement of peaceful talks aimed at a transition to democracy. It was the biggest march in Burma in over three years, since the ruling military junta attempted to assassinate Suu Kyi in 2003. The three former students are revered in Burma as Gandhi-like figures and are known as the "88 Generation Students" in honor of their role in the peaceful 1988 democratic uprising. Each was severely tortured and spent over a decade in prison before being released in 2004.
During the May 27 march, members of the military junta's civilian arm, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, blocked the participants from reaching the pagoda. This was the same paramilitary group that led the near-assassination of Suu Kyi.
The march came at a time of heightened international pressure on Burma. Recently, 59 former presidents and prime ministers from around the world -- including leaders from across Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and every single living U.S. president -- called for the release of Suu Kyi. For the first time in history, Burma's neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also joined the call, urging Suu Kyi's release.
China alone defended the military regime, stating that the matter was Burma's "internal affair." In January, China also vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called on the Burmese junta to stop political repression. In a sign of changing politics in Southeast Asia, newspapers and parliamentarians have begun to criticize China's unilateral position on Burma and its undermining of ASEAN.
Burma's junta has recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world. In a scorched earth military campaign, it has also destroyed 3,080 villages in eastern Burma. More than a million people have been displaced.
On May 27, members of the USDA threatened to attack and kill the marchers, but the three former student leaders urged the crowd to remain calm. "Please understand that we are not frightened by your threats,” they said to the USDA. “We will proceed with peaceful gatherings." They then returned to the office headquarters of Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy, and carried out their prayer service in private.
Jeremy Woodrum is the co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. He has led congressional and Hollywood delegations to refugee camps on Burma's borders and organized a nationwide boycott effort that resulted in 45 companies cutting ties to Burma's military regime.
